Merinov

Published purpose

With an increasing global demand for seaweed derived products and ingredients, as well as a broader public understanding of the important environmental services provided by our marine flora, there is growing interest from young entrepreneurs to develop Canada’s seaweed cultivation industry to achieve financial, societal, and environmental benefits. In this context, Merinov and NRC are developing projects to support the development of larger, better managed, and more sustainable seaweed cultivation industry while supporting marine habitat conservation and preserving the genetic resources native to Canada’s marine zones, with a focus on Atlantic Canada. This project will support a sustainable seaweed aquaculture industry for the main cultivated species in the Atlantic coast of Canada, the sugar kelp. Biobanking is crucial to reach this goal, as the preservation of properly characterized strains will allow the preservation of genotype and phenotype diversity for conservation, improvement of cultivated strains, and increased population resistance to various natural (climate cycle, parasites, disease, etc.) or anthropogenic (climate change, development, aquaculture, oil spills, etc.) disturbances. To define which strains/populations to biobank, there is a need to better understand the seaweed ecology and population delimitation and if the environment influences their phenotype or quality. Three main linked objectives will be developed here: 1) defining morphology and genetics of the sugar kelp populations, 2) developing technology and identify which populations to biobank and 3) developing a bank of seed strains with selected characteristics. Samples of wild sugar kelp will be collected in two provinces where seaweed aquaculture is rising: Quebec and Nova Scotia. A better understanding of the population genetics and gene flow through a high resolution assessment of wild and cultivated populations will also provide important relevant information to management agencies and to the industry